If you have a reasonably new laptop with an Intel WiFi chipset then I have some good news. A set of new Intel WiFi drivers made available just a couple weeks ago, version 13.0.0.107 if you’re playing along, finally adds the necessary driver-level support for the new native Virtual WiFi technology in Windows 7.
After downloading and installing the drivers (32-bit here, 64-bit here), assuming your WiFi chipset supports the functionality (which I can verify the 5300 can but 3945 cannot), a new “Wireless Network Connection” with the adapter name “Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport” will automatically appear in your network connections.
Recently, the internet has been abuzz with a new software called Connectify which interacts with this Windows 7 Virtual WiFi technology, but it appears their intention is to sell this application once its finalized. Personally I find it ludicrous that someone would charge for what is essential a wrapper to some functionality already baked into Windows.
To set up and use Virtual WiFi in Windows 7, without paying a buck, just follow these three simple steps:
- Open an elevated command line with administrative privileges and type
netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=Test key=password
replacing the name and password with your own preference. - Start the adapter by
netsh wlan start hostednetwork - Share an existing connection to it by going to the “Properties” of a connection, selecting the “Sharing” tab and enabling ICS and choosing the corresponding Virtual WiFi adapter.
Of course this functionality isn’t that useful day-to-day, but a powerful usage scenario for this internet sharing functionality via Virtual WiFi will be when you’re at an airport or hotel which limits your connection to a single wireless adapter. Not only would this save you playing switcheroo with the hotspot, but it might also save you paying for multiple connections if you’re traveling with somebody else.
I think Connectify used the lake of easy UI for this feature as a weak point in Window. We can’t blame them for doing what Microsoft should have done to make this great feature more “Visual” other than showing a VWiFi Adapter in Connection Manager. CMD is not user friendly at all, Only IT Admins & Geeks can use it in a right way.
FYI, I posted on this on Nov 3rd on my blog:
http://lituuslimacon.blogspot.com/2009/11/connectify-you-windows-7-pc- for-free.html
But I had been using it to sync and make purchases from my Zune by connecting to my PC (HP tx2 w Realtek card) via the “hostednetwork” since a month or so.
Not asking for credit, since this is publicly accessible info from MSDN. Just an FYI.
“It might also save you paying for multiple connections if you’re traveling with somebody else.”
This is -exactly- why public hotspots will start blocking this behaviour somehow within the next six months or so, and render the feature next to useless.
@Fred: I don’t think its possible to block this behavior since everything is client-side.
Thanks for this! I’ve just got it working on my Atheros (not Intel) wireless card.
i doubt they will bother since its not setup by default
5100 supports this too.
I am just wondering How can I use virtual wifi adapter to connect another new wireless network? not just only share your internet to others
4965 doesn’t appear to work. I presume that us with 3965 and 4965 chipsets are out of luck, even though these are fairly recent chipsets. It’s a shame that cheaper third party chipsets can support this functionality yet these apparently can’t. I wonder if it really is a lack of a hardware feature or if it’s simply a choice by Intel not to allow it to happen.
seeing as hp just bought 3com i could see them making use of this.
dell i’m sure got this working seeing as they work closly with hardware manufactures
Is it possible to set this up without a wifi key?
if you mean encription key yes its probably the same as windows vista adhoc ics
I do mean encryption, I was wondering if it was possible to set it up without encryption. If I set the password to nothing (or “”) the network still shows WPA encryption… Is it possible to have an open network, and create a WiFi hotspot?
well with adhoc usually it can be no encryption or wep
also it looks like its the same issue that connectify did
I’ve been trying to use this function for a few days to connect my Nintendo DS Lite to
the internet without having to drop my home router connection to unsecured or, god forbid, WEP…
Unfortunately, even when i don’t enter a passkey, the darn device won’t pick up the new network…
I haven’t attempted to connect to the network via another laptop yet, just wondering if I might have done anything wrong, i shared the connection from my main card, but not ALL ICS services are enabled…should they be?
Also, do i need to enable an ad-hoc network for any of this to work, or should this work as soon as i finish the command entry?
If it should work as is, should the network show if i simply browse for it from another device?
And is the network always WPA encrypted?
I’ve managed every step of this so far except for connecting to the network via another device.
i a magine that all required services should be enabled but with some pc manufactures they somehow destroy these types of things
you shouldnt have to setup ad hoc but id try to just use ad hoc with ics connectivity 1st & see if it works
if it works & you did it to the letter then the ssid is test key & the wpa code is password
& do you know for sure all devices have client wpa? dsi for example has wpa in its dsi ware apps but not in the ds cards. for them wep encoded into almost the entire ds library
that has wfc options
I cant enable my Microsoft Virtual WiFi Mainport Adapter. It says Disablet whatever I do. I tried ConnectiFy once and worked fine. Then day or two after It says it cant find the WiFi adapter. What might be the problem?
In your scenario after “netsh wlan start hostednetwork” I get:
The hosted network couldn’t be started.
The group or resource is not in the correct state to perform the requested opera
tion.
Thanks for writing about Connectify. We thought you may want to know that Connectify 1.0 is now available for free as the first production ready release. Some older wireless cards do not yet have full Windows 7 support, and for those devices Connectify will act as an Ad Hoc connection manager, instead of a full blown Wi-Fi Access Point.
Changes since Beta 4 include:
• Improved Notification tray icons (including a warning icon if the selected Internet connection is not currently working)
• Support for even more wireless cards and configurations
• Improved memory and CPU management
• Recover from sleep/hibernate
• Support for machines where multiple users install Connectify and log on at same time
• Ability to remove clients from the Client History list (right click to get menu)
• Auto-hiding of the Mode box. By default we hide the “Mode” box to choose between AP or Ad Hoc mode. If your wireless card supports both, then we default to Access Point mode. To keep the mode box visible, there is an option on the Option menu (right click on the Connectify logo to show the menu).
Thank you again for your support.
Forget Connectify I just setup this on my win7 lap top.
Intel® My WiFi Technology
http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/products/wireless/mywifi.htm
i would try connectify on my laptop but my wifi mini card isnt being seen guess its the motherboard acting up again time to take it back to the retailer’s repair shop before extended warrenty runs out
Hello,
as it seems even the lastest driver 13.0.0.107 do not support 4965AGN and Virtual Wifi. Does anybody know, if that is hardware related or if there is a chance that there will support in a future driver release.
Best regards
–toshidude